The present invention relates generally to chewing gum compositions and methods of making the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to chewing gum compositions capable of being chewed and ingested by animals.
For hundreds of years, people have enjoyed gum-like substances. In the late 1800""s the predecessors to today""s chewing gum compositions were developed. Today, chewing gum is enjoyed daily by millions of people world-wide.
However, such currently available chewing gum compositions suitable for humans are not suitable for animals. Animals, including, but not limited to, cats and dogs are not capable of chewing currently available chewing gum compositions for an extended period of time. When animals are fed such prior art chewing gum compositions, they frequently bite and immediately swallow the gum as if it were food.
Further, pet owners are constantly challenged to maintain their pet""s dental hygiene. Prior art studies of humans have shown that chewing gum between meals provides positive dental health benefits. Such human-based prior art gum compositions clean teeth through mechanical cleansing and stimulation of salivary flow. Yet, since prior art human-based gum compositions are not capable of being ingested by animals, such compositions are not suitable for animals. Thus, pet owners are without the benefit of a chewing gum composition for animals, which could provide dental hygiene benefits.
In addition, there is a concern in the pet community, in particular for dogs, that currently available common natural dog treats such as rawhide, pigs ears, and the like contain parasites and toxic microorganisms. Recent prior art studies have shown that Salmonella problems for animals appear to be associated with rawhide based animal treats.
Therefore, there is a need within the prior art for an ingestible chewing gum for animals, which is capable of being chewed over an extended period of time before being ingested. There is also a need for an animal ingestible chewing gum composition, which is substantially free of parasites and toxic microorganisms unlike rawhide prior art based compositions.
Lastly, there is also a need for a method of making an animal ingestible chewing gum composition capable of extending the period of time an animal chews such a composition before swallowing, and which is also substantially free of parasites and toxic microorganisms.
The present invention provides for an animal ingestible chewing gum composition, which is capable of extending the period of time an animal chews such a composition before swallowing, and method of making the same. Further, the chewing gum composition of the present invention is also capable of being substantially free of parasites and toxic microorganisms.
To this end, the present invention provides for an animal ingestible chewing gum composition and method of making the same through use of at least one animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based elastomer alone or in combination with one another. These animal-ingestible elastomers provide a chewing gum composition capable of being chewed over an extended period of time by an animal prior to ingestion. In addition, such elastomers also are substantially free of parasites and toxic microorganisms, thereby increasing the animal health safety profile of the chewing gum composition.
Accordingly, a chewing gum composition is provided that comprises a water soluble gum portion and water insoluble gum base portion including at least one animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based elastomer alone or in combination that may dissolve or may be water insoluble.
In an embodiment, the gum base of the present invention may comprise from approximately 1% to about 99% by weight of at least one animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomer.
In an embodiment, the animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomer is coupled to a medicament.
In an embodiment, the animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomer is coupled to a nutritional compound.
In an embodiment, the animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomer is coupled to a breath-freshening ingredient.
In an embodiment, the gum base may also include other zoologically acceptable elastomers.
In an embodiment, the gum base may also include a zoologically acceptable elastomer plasticizer.
The present invention also provides a method for creating an animal ingestible chewing gum composition, which is capable of extending the period of time the animal chews the composition before ingestion comprising the steps of: creating a chewing gum base that includes a sufficient amount of at least one animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomer alone or in combination to create a resultant chewing gum that is more digestibly acceptable to and extends the period of chewing for an animal than a chewing gum composition without such animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomers; and adding the chewing gum base to a water soluble portion to create a resultant chewing gum. Further, the method provides for the creation of an animal digestible chewing gum composition that is substantially free of parasites and toxic microorganisms unlike natural rawhide based animal ingestible products.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a chewing gum composition comprising a flavor, a sweetener, a texturizer, and at least one animal-protein, plant-protein or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomer that is capable of extending the period of time the animal chews such a composition before ingestion.
An advantage of the present invention is to provide an animal ingestible chewing gum composition that is capable of extending the period of time an animal chews such a composition before ingestion. In doing so, the animal receives a variety of masticatory benefits such as improved dental hygiene through enhanced mechanical cleansing and salivary flow.
Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a chewing gum base that contains at least animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based elastomer capable of being ingested by an animal.
Furthermore, an advantage of the present invention is to provide a chewing gum composition containing an animal-protein, plant-protein, or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomer substantially free of parasites and/or toxic microorganisms unlike natural rawhide animal chew products. In doing so, the present invention provides enhanced animal health safety.
Moreover, an advantage of the present invention is to provide a chewing gum composition containing at least animal-protein, plant-protein or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomer alone or in combination that can be attached to any one or more currently available elastomers, medicaments, nutritional compounds, or breath-freshening agents for delivery to the animal via chewing the gum and/or swallowing the gum cud.
Moreover, an additional advantage of the present invention is to provide a method for producing an animal ingestible chewing gum composition containing at least one animal-protein, plant-protein or polysaccharide-based animal ingestible elastomer alone or in combination with one another, which is capable of extending the period of time an animal chews the composition before ingestion.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention are described herein, and will be apparent from, the detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments.